skygiants

Ahhhh these are all ridiculous and I don't know why I'm even reposting them, but: icon drabbles from here!



( For aamalie - Capital Scandal )



( For futuresoon - Gokusen )

( For izilen - Gokusen )



( For dictator_duck - Washington rap )



( For blacksheep91 - Javert/Rent crossover )



( For shati the terrifying - Utena/Middleman crossover )



( For hafl - Junichiro Koizumi RPF I don't even )



( For ceitfianna - Nellie Bly RPF )



( For genarti - Pumpkin Scissors )




( For pseudo_tsuga - Doctor Who )

jothra is evil. Why is this? Because she has cruelly hooked me on an ongoing manga that has only five volumes out of twelve published in English, no scanlations anywhere online, and no promise of further volumes until October at the very earliest. ;_; JOOOOOOOOO! *shakes tiny fist*

I've seen Pumpkin Scissors compared to Fullmetal Alchemist multiple times, and though the actual stories are very different it's pretty easy to see why. The main story of Pumpkin Scissors picks up three years after a cease-fire has ended a long and brutal war between the Empire and the Republic, and focuses on the inevitable problems that happen when towns and farmlands have been destroyed by constant warfare, large numbers of former soldiers are wandering around unemployed, and the whole country is in the middle of a serious economic depression - and that's without factoring in an easily-abused oligarchical class system and an apparently super-sinister military. Our protagonists are Imperial Army State Section III, an army unit that's dedicated to war relief and reconstruction. Most people (including the rest of the army) see them as pretty much a useless token effort shuffled together for the sake of propaganda, but the second lieutenant in charge of the unit is determined to prove that RECONSTRUCTION IS SRS BSNS and make a significant difference.

I think the focus on reconstruction and the aftermath of war, rather than on dramatic battles, is really interesting; I also like the characters, and, as this is a visual canon (with an anime adaptation) that means mini-picspam time!

( Under the cut for length and images. )

The manga kind of whiplashes between comedy and seriousness and full-on nightmare fuel; as it happens, that is a whiplash I thoroughly enjoy. All of the army conspiracies and evil scientific experiments and rising class tension also seem to be developing into a plot that is really interesting, and that I would LIKE to know more about but probably will not be able to FOR YEARS. Damn you again, lack of translations! (I will totally be watching the anime, but I think it only covers the parts I have already read. ;_;)